Strange Beginnings
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Laxus has a system. And Mira has a science. But when the system breaks down and the science becomes faulty, the demon and the dragon find themselves n a strange, wonderful place. With flowers. Mira really likes flowers. - One-shot.


Strange Beginnings

It started in the most basic way. Laxus had a system for all of his women. He had an order. There were ones that he liked for threesomes, ones that he liked for anal, ones that he just thought were hot, but really brought nothing else to the table.

It was all very organized.

…Until he involved Mirajane.

That actually began in the normal way that most of his relationships did. They got drunk and somehow ended up in bed together. And Mira knew the deal. Of course Mirajane knew. And he knew about her too. She didn't have as superficial a relationship with men as he did with women, but she had had quite a few boyfriends and other frequent dates that she took to parties and events.

So he didn't even have to explain anything to her.

When he felt like it or she was in the mood, they'd usually go home from the bar to his place. Do whatever it was that they were going to that night before Mirajane disappeared into his bathroom, only emerging to get dressed and scurry off back to her house.

It was perfect. Mirajane was perfect.

But…some of the rules did get broke along the way.

The most important was the whole hooking up at his place thing. Laxus didn't do that. With any woman. He'd go to their place sometimes, but mostly, well, he always had a room on standby at Magnolia Inn.

Mirajane was his guild mate though. He figured he could trust her. Why couldn't he? She already knew where he lived and she, obviously, didn't want anything more serious than sleeping with one another. She didn't even stay the night. Just took off.

So what was the big deal?

Oh yeah. The no guild members thing. That was another big rule. Honesty, he'd thought a few times about hooking up with the blonde one or Cana a few times. Especially Cana. He figured she'd be down for his lifestyle.

But he'd always held off. Because of the rule. Guild relations would only blur things. Get them all tangled.

Yet when he found himself more than a little intoxicated and Mirajane slurring her words while leaning against him for support, he couldn't rightly force himself to turn her down.

Gah! If that wasn't the best decision of his life. Mira didn't even fall into a category. Not into the anal or blow job or threesome. None of those. She blew everyone out of the water. Other than the threesome thing. He'd tried to wiggle her into that once and all she started doing was naming off guys that she'd like to join them and, well, no. Just no.

And as Mira felt the same way about other women, they met a steady truce about that.

Even without that though, Mirajane quickly became Laxus' favorite plaything. Whenever he was in Magnolia and in the mood (he was usually more in than out), he'd go to her first. He'd even wait the entire day for her to get off work if he had to.

Of course, when he got turned down by her claiming to be tired or just not feeling it (once, she even had a date with another man which he hated to admit got under his skin a little), he'd just go bang another woman until he forgot that he cared anything at all about a stupid demon.

Ugh, if he didn't care about that stupid demon.

His infatuation became even more obvious to him as time went on. Like the first time she stayed the night. She'd gone into the bathroom like always to…whatever women did in the bathroom, and he was just laying there in bed, still resting with his head in the pillow that had previously been muffling her cries. When he heard her coming back into the room though, he lifted his head.

"It's stormin' out," he grumbled, watching as she slithering back into her dress with less interest than when she was slipping out of it. "Gonna get struck by lightning or somethin'."

"Too late."

"Just get over here, demon."

"I have to-"

"Elfman and Lisanna are grown. They can be without you one night."

Apparently they were because slowly, Mirajane began staying over more often than not. And, well, because she just couldn't wrinkle her dress and it was too cold most nights for her to sleep in the nude, he had to give her something to wear.

She liked his purple button-down shirt the best. And he didn't mind seeing her in it.

Then the breakfast started. Because it was just silly for her to stay the night and use him for his warm, cozy apartment without paying him back some, huh?

He'd never woken up so early in his life. He was a late riser when he wasn't out on a job, but, well, with Mirajane having to get off to the guildhall so early, he had to either wake up and eat or miss out on the opportunity.

So he'd sit there at his kitchen table, bleary eyed and yawning, waiting for his pancakes or eggs or omelet. Whatever she felt like making. He wasn't too picky.

And then Mira would serve it to him and, because she always claimed she was watching her figure or something stupid like that, she'd only eat some toast, sitting across from him at the table, sometimes still only in his shirt or with his oversized coat draped over her shoulders.

It got so bad even that he stopped calling on the other women. Not that it was sudden or anything. Just gradual. Slowly he found himself so intoxicated with Mirajane, so beguiled with her entire being that…

He almost felt like she had used some sort of trick on him. Some sort of devilish curse or something. Charmed him. Whatever. All he wanted, all he could think about, was Mirajane Strauss.

Laxus had to have her. And when he didn't get her…

It was absurd, the way that he felt. He'd never cared so much about a woman. And though Mirajane was a model, fine, and pretty dang sexy, he'd had better. Truly, he had. Hotter at least. And some even better in the bedroom. But he couldn't shake Mira.

What had she done to him?

But Mira knew exactly what she had done. Because if Laxus had a system, Mirajane had a science. One that every man fell pray to. It was fun for her. And sure, she met some really sweet guys and some really wonderful ones even, but almost always, she ended up hurting them.

Which she didn't feel good about. Not at all. But… Mira just wasn't the relationship type. She couldn't be. So she tried her hardest to stay away from safe guys. From men that would only end up feeling betrayed by her. From men that, even after she broke it off, would still come around, begging for her back.

If there was anything that Mirajane wasn't good at, it was confrontation.

So she knew that when she got with Laxus, that it would be a clean cut when the time came. Mainly because of the way that she knew he was with women. For one, it would teach him a lesson. And for two, she knew that while she might hurt him just a little, he'd bounce right back. It'd never affect their work relationship either, she knew, as his grandfather was still very much so the master and neither of them would want him privy to what they were doing with one another.

No way.

And while Mirajane expect Laxus to be…experienced, she didn't think…well…

She didn't fall for him or anything like that. It would be crazy to say that. She was just…

He liked to do things. Great things. And, well, while it wasn't hard to find a guy that did want those things, it was usually hard to find one that was any good at them.

There was only one thing though that she wouldn't let him have.

"A few times," she'd told him when he brought it up, wanting to know how much expertise she had in the area. "What kinda of…other partner were you thinking of?"

He had his head buried in her neck then as she sat up on his dresser, trying to undress him while also paying attention to the conversation at hand.

"With you involved? Don't care who. Whatever you want," he whispered against her flesh. "You have a preference?"

"Someone I know. Just… I have to know the person. You know?"

"Whatever you want, demon. When were you thinking-"

"Well, I know that Jeff likes blondes."

He paused. "Jeff? What are you-"

"And Damien-"

"Mirajane-"

"How are you with guys?" She was stroking his head then as he lifted it from her neck to glare at her. "Dominate? Or dominated?"

"Demon," he growled. "I am not… No. I meant a woman. Not another… No."

"Oh, I'm not attracted to women," Mira told him with a shrug. "At all. So I don't think that will ever be happening. But-"

"And what? You think that I'm into guys?"

"I don't judge, Laxus."

His eyes were dark then as he moved to grip her hips, purposely trying to leave a mark behind then. She deserved a few bruises for that trick.

"I'm not fucking a dude," he growled it was her turn to bury her head against him.

"I think it's so hot, Laxus, to watch two guys-"

"That's sick."

"Oh? And I guess that you would just want me and this woman to not touch each other at all?"

"W-Well-"

"We're at a stalemate here," she told him then as she moved to finish unbutton his shirt. "Guess it's just gonna be the two of us in here, dragon."

"Guess so."

And it was. Of course it was. Mira never really thought that Laxus would be interested in bringing another guy into things. But making him feel as if she had, seeing the look on his face, well, that was worth every second of it.

And every bruise left on her that night.

Everything was going perfectly to plan too. Mira knew that first night, when she slept over, all cuddled up against his pillows, watching as he turned his back to her, that she had him hooked. It was only reiterated the next time they hooked up, when he once again found some lame reason for her to stay the night.

And the shirt wearing? That was all him. The breakfast was her, but that was more out of courtesy. Though she wouldn't admit it, he was showing her a rather interesting time, if not an all together unusual side of him. She knew that he could be rather gruff with the women that he bedded and fine, at times he acted that way towards her, but there were some time, late at night, when she was in his bed and neither of them could sleep, but they weren't talking, they rarely spoke, but he would just look at her and she…

But, and let it be made very clear, Mirajane was _not_ falling for him. At all. Because Laxus, though she found him to be brave and loyal to the guild, she in no way saw him as boyfriend material. She saw very few men in that way, honestly. She had dates, fine, guys that she knew she could call and have take her to a function as needed, but a boyfriend? Those were far and in between. She took that seriously. And she didn't see Laxus as ever taking anything seriously.

Other than himself.

Oh though if there weren't some nights when she was laying there, next to him, watching him sleep, that it hurt. All of her hurt. Just the thought of him being with another woman made her…

Gah! She wasn't supposed to feel that way about guys. Not guys like Laxus. She did whatever she wanted when he wasn't around and he did whatever he wanted. That was just the way that it worked.

But the thought of having to be up at the bar, watching him sit over there with his bodyguards, that sly smile of his as he made offhanded comments to Freed and Bickslow about what woman he'd taken the night before…

Jealous didn't begin to describe the resentment she had for any other woman that she saw him out around town with.

Mira didn't want Laxus by any account, but she didn't want Laxus to be with another woman either.

Because while Mirajane had it all down to a science, she hadn't taken into consideration that when the variables changes, sometimes, you have a whole other equation.

Not that Laxus liked seeing her out with other men either. There was one day when he went up to the guildhall to find out when she'd be getting off only to find that she had been out the whole day and was off on a date.

A date. After spending the night with him only two days ago.

So he was going to go out. And he was going to find a woman to go home with. Make her feel stupid.

That was how he found himself at a bar with one of his usual women. She was talking his head off about something that he didn't care to listen to when his eyes fell across the bar to, of course, Mirajane. She was drinking with some man, some stupid, scrawny looking civilian.

Not even a fucking mage? She was going to blow him off for someone that couldn't even appreciate her? Couldn't even handle her?

That was bullshit.

It was then that Mirajane spotted him and she waved before heading over to the table he was at, dragging that worthless guy with her. He only glared at him though.

He had to make nice too. She made him make nice. Made him talk to her and her date. Spoke to his date even, she did, as if nothing was wrong. As if it wasn't them that should be going home together. As if he wasn't the only guy that properly fucked her brains out.

Laxus hated to admit it, but after Mirajane left wit her…idiot date, he ditched his one, claiming that his beer must have been spiked or something, that he was sick. She didn't seem too thrilled with that, but he didn't care.

Then he went home, drank a bottle of his best whiskey, and fell asleep.

He woke up that morning wanting pancakes. And bacon. And the demon.

Instead he only vomited up a belly full of alcohol before falling back asleep.

Until about three that afternoon. And though he had a killer headache and craved something good to eat, he did nothing about ether of those.

Instead he went to the market, placed a custom order of a bouquet to be delivered to the guild the next day, before buying some more alcohol and going home to wait.

And drink. And contemplate canceling the order. Oh, and wish that he really had the demon there, if only to make the pancakes.

He spent the day drunk and the night passed out.

It was a knocking on the door the next day that awoke him. He'd passed out on his couch and only groaned as he got up.

Opening the door, he found Mirajane there, the bouquet he'd sent up to her at work in hand.

"It was you, wasn't it? There wasn't a card, but I knew."

He only stood there, eyelids drooping, as he stared out at her. "What makes you think it was me?'

"Purple lilies and white roses? Those are our colors."

"I'm purple now?"

"You look best in it."

He took a step back then, letting her in. "You on break?"

"I told Master that I had to go find the man that sent me these. He thought it was so funny, the way I was blushing over it. Told me that things came for me all the time. Wanted to know why this had me so flustered."

"You get flustered?"

"You send women flowers?"

"Only ones that I want."

"You want a lot of things."

"I _get_ a lot of things," he clarified as they went into the kitchen, Mirajane setting the flowers down on the table. "Those other women are just games. And I always win."

"So what do you want with me? You've won up until this point. We both have."

He only stood there next to her, staring down into her deep blue eyes. "The system is breaking down."

"What? What are you-"

"I don't… I don't like it, Mira. When I see you… The other night, when you were…"

"You were out with a woman too."

"Yeah, because you were first," he told her. "You went out on a date so-"

"Oh, what? Like you haven't been fucking around since the beginning?"

"I have! I'm not saying I haven't. But-"

"But what?" She scoffed, glaring up at him then. "You can sleep around, but I'm supposed to-"

"You don't get it."

"No, I don't. At all."

"Mira." He wanted to be angry, wanted to yell, and scream and…and…and…

Oh, no. He couldn't blame it on her any longer. He couldn't say that she had used some sort of demon-like magic on him. No. He was…he…

"I think I love you."

Mirajane blinked. Then she turned away from him. "I assure you, Laxus, that you don't. I-"

"I know what lust feels like. And I know what it's like to like a woman. To enjoy a woman. But this… You're making me crazy, demon. I…"

"You don't love me. You-"

"I don't give a damn what you wanna call it. Believe me, I'm not too big on calling it love either. But… Fuck, Mira. What do I have to do to keep you to myself?"

That was such a weird thing to ask, especially coming from him, that Mira only glanced at him. For a man that for the past few months, if not close to a year, that had been content with just being an occasional fuck, he sure looked serious then.

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly. "You want… You want to be my boyfriend? Or-"

"Is that what it takes?"

"Do you even know how to be a boyfriend?"

"I know that I want you, Mirajane. I know that I don't want other men to have you. I know that if it takes me being with you and only you, that's fine. If it means that we have to start going out on…dates, I don't care. I'll spend how ever much you want me to on you. I just… Tell me, Mira. Do you…want this too?"

Maybe that was what was wrong with science. Or at least infusing it with the immeasurable things, such as love and attraction and…and demons and dragons. It was impossible to plot down emotions, impossible to decide what another human being would feel, what you would feel. Too many things to add in, too many variables to take into consideration.

"I have rules, Laxus. For boyfriends. You will _not_ date other women. If we're going to be loyal to one another, it's until we both decide that it's over. And you have to be kind to my brother and sister. And you-"

"Yes. Whatever else, yes." He was reaching out then to pick her up. He liked setting her on things for some reason. The kitchen table was a favorite of his and, well, it got put to use then, her flowers having to be shifted over some.

"Laxus, I'm serious. And your grandfather and…and your bodyguards and…the whole guild is going to-"

"I don't care. Fuck, Mira. You know how hard it's been for me? To listen to damn Macao make passes at you? That filthy old-"

"Hey." She patted his chest as he stood before her, almost glaring. "He's sweet. You leave him alone."

"There's rules to being my girlfriend too, Mira."

"Oh? And when would you have even been able to make them up? Because I have never seen you have a serious girlfriend. Or at least not one you considered your girlfriend."

He only grunted. "If you're mine, demon, you're mine."

"Oh, dragon. Are you getting jealous already?" She reached up to press the pad of her thumb against his bottom lip, waiting for him to envelope it into his mouth. When he did, Laxus bit down slightly on her thumb, breaking the skin, before sucking slightly, no doubt getting a nice taste of her blood. "Mmmm."

Releasing her thumb, he moved to rest his forehead against hers. "When are we going to fuck in your bed?"

"Elf and Lisanna are always home."

"I like an audience."

She slapped his chest then before moving to work on getting his shirt off. "Yeah, well, you're not getting one with them."

"Too bad. I've been to your house once or twice. You have some nice counter tops," he said. "You know gonna lie and say you've never wanted me to fuck you on 'em?"

"As shocking as it is, Lax, you hardly cross my mind."

"Don't lie, demon," he said. "You want this as much as me. You've wanted this as much as me. Trying to flaunt in my face the guys that you've been seeing. If I even catch you near one of them, I'll show you just how strong I really am."

"You're such a naughty dragon." Her thumb was still bleeding slightly as she purposely ran it on his shirt. "Mmmm. My thumb hurts."

"I'm about to make all of you hurt."

"That sounds nice."

He kissed her head then before moving to stare down into her eyes. "This is the strangest relationship I have ever had."

"Oh, please, Laxus. This is the only _real_ relationship you've ever had," she said as he only moved to bite hat her neck. She'd never let him do that before and he figured he'd test the waters. "Hey! I have to go back to work. Don't-"

"Babe, I'm the next guild master. You go to work when I tell you to go to work."

"Don't think it works that way."

"It works whatever way I want it to." Nuzzling against her head, he said, "You're taking the day off. Then we'll go out to dinner. A real dinner. Is that…something you'd like?"

Honestly, Mirajane was still feeling kind of surreal about the whole thing. Instead of saying so though, she only gave up on his shirt before moving to unbuckle his belt.

"Yeah, Lax." She sighed as he went back to kissing at her neck. "That is."

And for such a strange beginning, Mirajane had a funny feeling in her stomach that it was going to be a wonderful ride.

Laxus on the other hand was just hoping that it would all fade away soon. That he could go back to being himself. Maybe he'd get it out of his system after a week or two.

…Or maybe he'd give a month or t- And her hands were down his pants.

Ugh.

At least a year. He had to have at least a year.

Or ten.

Or twenty.

Or forever.

Somewhere in between that.

* * *

**Really did mean to make some Elf and Ever stuff today, but kept coming up blank. Then this struck me and, well, you guys know I can't resist Laxus and Mirajane. **


End file.
